Is There a Doctor in the House? The Mending of a Patient and a Crew
When Hiro-Shu arrived Zesiro, Orso, and Sage were already huddled around the prow looking down. Hiro-Shu glanced down and saw a small ship. Well, more of a row boat with a short mast. Hiro-Shu thought he saw something move down there, but couldn't figure out what it was.
"Someone should go down there," said Sage.
"Yup," agreed Orso, "Someone should go down there."
Zesiro shrugged, "if someone is alive down there they'll come up here first."
"No one is steering," said Hiro-Shu.
"I nominate Zesiro!" shouted Sage.
"I second the nomination!" shouted Orso.
"What! Why me? I say just let them stay down there," said Zesiro.
"If me, Orso, or Hiro-Shu go down there they could force off of the ship and into the water, where we will drown," said Sage, "You don't want us to drown, do you?
Zesiro groaned. He wandered over to the edge, good thing he wasn't wearing a shirt today. He jumped off and landed in the water. A giant splashed enveloped him. Right now, he was debating on whether or not he would be better off if he would've said 'yes'.
He climbed onto the boat. He turned away at the smell. It smelled as if someone on this ship hadn't taken good care of the trash. He looked at the floor, yea, he called it. Empty wrappers of seeds and dirt laying all around. He shook his head. A small growl came from inside the sleeping bag near him. His hands jumped to his sword. With all the trash he had seen he had forgotten that this could be an enemy vessel.
He neared the sleeping bag. It was quiet now. He prodded it quickly with his sword. The sleeping bag didn't even move. He launched a swift kick to it. The sleeping bag toppled over, but other then that it didn't do anything.
"Hey, Zesiro, you alive down there?" shouted Sage, "I don't hear anything."
Zesiro froze and looked at the sleeping bag. It was still motionless. Zesiro shouted, his eyes never leaving the bag, "Yeah, everything is good down here. Just a sleeping bag."
"Bring everything up that is worth something," shouted Sage, "There may be some worthwhile things on board!"
"I cannot condone that course of action miss!" shouted Orso jumping onto the railing where he could stare Sage face-to-face, "stealing from any vessel, whether it is merchant, marine, or unknown I, as a marine, cannot allow you to steal from it!"
Sage smiled, "We are pirates. We steal from vessels. You are lucky we haven't thrown you overboard yet, Mr. Marine."
"You drive a hard bargain, I will be kind and not fight you over this trivial matter," said Orso, "consider it a favor for granting me free voyage on this…vessel of yours." He jumped down and started to leave towards the cabins.
Zesiro came up hauling a large treasure trove of seed packets and water canteens. He dropped them all off on the ground. "Well, other then the sleeping bag this is basically all there is."
"Water and seeds? No food?" said Sage, "what kind of halfwit leaves an island without food?"
"Didn't Mikoto say he left without food?" asked Zesiro. (see Chapter 3)
"To think that there is apparently someone else out there like Mikoto," said Sage, "was there anybody else on board?"
"They may have been dead in the sleeping bag," said Zesiro, "but they didn't respond to my actions or your shouting."
"Heh, go bring the sleeping bag up," said Sage, "maybe they have some valuables on them."
"Why do I got to do all the work?" shouted Zesiro.
"Because I am not strong enough," said Sage with adorable puppy dog eyes.
"Fine!" shouted Zesiro, he braced himself against the railing as he made another leap into the water.
"Hear that Mikoto," said Sage, "Someone else left without food! Looks like we found someone just like you!"
Mikoto grumbled and collapsed to the floor.
"Give me another few minutes," said Sage, "dinner is almost done." Sage was happy that the ship had run course into another ship. Finally a much needed break from her thoughts. She was still going to kill Ridley if they ever met up again. After all anything short of his death made this stupid act of his treason and wrong.
Zesiro came up with the sleeping bag slung over his shoulder. Still no sign of life in the bag. He threw it off of his shoulder and onto the ground. A loud thud and barely audible moan was heard.
"Something is alive in there," said Sage. "Care to open it?"
Zesiro pressed his sword against the sleeping bag and cut it open with a single slice. A female rolled out of the bag and onto the deck. She had long black hair that reached down to her ankles. Her chest was surprisingly flat for a girl her age. She was extremely pale and wore a one shoulder purple shirt, some old blue jeans, and some brown sandals. "Zesiro!" shouted Sage, "What did you do to her?"
"Yeah, an unconscious girl falls out of a bag and its my fault," said Zesiro.
Sage knelt down and put her head on the girl's chest. "She's still alive," said Sage.
"Then its by just barely," said Zesiro, "her breathing's terrible. Not to mention I kicked her while we down on that boat and she didn't respond."
"You do not kick a girl!" shouted Sage slapping Zesiro's head harshly.
"How about I chop you up instead!" shouted Zesiro.
"Ah calm it!" shouted Sage, "you half-fish!"
"At least I can swim!"
"I can walk around in public without feelin' like a freak!"
"Hey, I can fight and win against my opponents without ending up passed out on the floor!"
"Yeah, you did a real good job at that last time!"
"I actually fought! You never once got off of your cart to move!"
"Geeze with crewmates like you it's a wonder why I joined this crew!"
"Right back at ya!"
"Land hoy!" shouted Hiro-Shu managing to be heard over the two fighting.
"Shut up, you golem!" shouted Sage and Zesiro in unison. They continued bickering.
Mikoto let out a brief sigh. Zesiro stopped yelling. Sage quickly followed. "We should've kept our mouths shut."
Orso ran up onto the deck, "I heard someone say land hoy! Am I finally going to be reunited with the Marines?" He took a quick look at the solemn crew. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
Zesiro was the first one off and onto the island. He did a quick stretch and then proceeded to help Sage off of the boat. Hiro-Shu was off right after him carrying the young girl in his arms. "I am going to find us a doctor, I'll come back when I find someone."
"I'll go with you," volunteered Sage. She scurried off after him.
"Hey, captain!" shouted Zesiro, "any orders?"
"Yeah," said Mikoto walking down the board, "find a new captain. I quit."
"Wait. What?" said Zesiro rushing up to Mikoto.
"I quit," said Mikoto, "this pirating thing is apparently not for me. I'm not going down in history as the second worst pirate of all time."
Orso popped up. "Why would you quit?" He jumped down, "you are already branded! Marines will chase after you forever regardless of whether or not you quit!"
"Fine with me," said Mikoto, "I'll go down as another prisoner…I can handle that."
"You are a selfish bastard!" shouted Zesiro throwing a punch straight at Mikoto and connecting. Mikoto was knocked back a few feet into the dirt. "Stand back up! We've fought before! I know you can take a hit worse then that!"
Mikoto stood up, "what do you want Zesiro? I am not going to be your captain anymore. Period. Go find yourself another one."
"I became a pirate because of you," said Zesiro, "I became a pirate because you and that damn Dominic Renvont framed me for blowing up my hometown!"
"What do you want? I'm sorry about your hometown."
"No, don't apologize for that," said Zesiro, "I know what you did! Ridley and Sage told me everything! While I was knocked out you went back to fight that psychopath! You went back to save my hometown! I joined this crew to be with an admirable man and now you go ahead and shatter that! You took one lost and you give up! No man worth admiring would give up because he lost! And certainly not you!"
"I have my reasons," said Mikoto.
"Well, then I am all ears," said Zesiro.
"My reasons are my reasons alone!" said Mikoto, "You, Sage, and Hiro-Shu can keep being pirates, but this is the end of the line for me!"
"First Ridley and now you? When I joined I didn't think the Infinity Pirates were a bunch of wimps!"
"Yeah, after all you guys beat up us Marines," said Orso.
"See, even the freaky teddy bear agrees with me!" said Zesiro.
"Freaky?" asked Orso insulted.
"Why would you just up and quit?" asked Zesiro.
"Why wouldn't I?" shouted Mikoto, "Ridley left us and is going to die! You and Sage are at each other's throats! Hiro-Shu is just as solemn as usually! And on top of that if I recall right, neither you nor Hiro-Shu even wanted to join!"
"But we joined anyways!" shouted Zesiro, "We didn't want to join, but we did! Do you know why? We did it because of you!"
"Well, in that case leave because of me!" said Mikoto morphing into his coyote form and dashing away.
"Well," said Orso, "I guess that's the end of the Infinity Pirates, huh?"
"No," said Zesiro, "People like him don't just live normal lives. They excel and become famous. One way or another, he'll become number one and I will be with him when that happens."
"What makes you say that?" asked Orso.
"My experience aboard that ship," said Zesiro pointing at the damaged boat.
(-With Hiro-Shu and Sage-)
Sage was whistling and skipping a few feet ahead of Hiro-Shu. "I think I'm going to prepare a banquet tonight," she said with happy smile, "we just survived our first loss as a crew that's something to celebrate! I think I'll start off with bruschetta along with some seviche, following that up maybe some burgoo and hotchpotch to wet our lips, I haven't decided on a main course, yet, but maybe for desert some chocolate cheesecake."
"If you feed Mikoto like that when we lose, he'll never want to win again!" laughed Hiro-Shu. He took in the sights around him the town was desolate everyone ran around with rags on and the houses were barely a step up from tents.
"So, you're saying I should just give him bread and water?" asked Sage.
"And that's bribery," said Hiro-Shu.
"The real reason I want to give Mikoto a feast is because he needs something to pick himself back up and, since Ridley left, I guess that makes me Mikoto's first mate for now!"
Hiro-Shu couldn't help but feel a little bit more excited. With Sage in such high spirits and the crew only a few more stops until they reach the Grand Line how could one not be? They quickly neared a small tent with a hospital sign out front.
"Wow, this is a sad hospital," said Sage she was about to walk in when a large elderly man stuck his palm out the zipper and started trying to shoo them away. "They don't even have doors."
"Go away! Come again another day!" shouted the voice from inside. "I have much business to do. First a man comes here with a giant wound in his stomach claiming to be poisoned, then a group of ferocious pirates come! This is too much for my small heart to take. I think I'm going to die!"
Sage smiled, their reputation surpassed them. Just their mere presence on an island could force a grown man into hiding in a small tent. "Listen, I know we, the Infinity Pirates, have been accused of being baddies, but we just want to help someone out. We won't kill you."
"The Infant-y Pirates?" asked the man, "Never heard of you. You must be pathetic…"
"Don't mock us!" shouted Sage smashing her foot into the tent.
"Someone help!" shouted the man from inside, "a women from the Infant-y Pirates is attacking me! They are trying to rob me and steal my curios! Someone save my curios!"
Hiro-Shu lifted Sage up with one arm and started to walk away. The unconscious girl laid asleep in his other arm. "We need to find a capable doctor."
"This isn't over yet," shouted Sage struggling to break free from Hiro-Shu's grip.
"You guys are looking for a doctor, huh?" said a woman as she walked out of the shadows. Her attire was simple a big black cloak covering most of her body. "I know someone but he charges an arm and a leg."
"Okay," said Hiro-Shu. He figured that since they were pirates they'd just skip out on the bill anyway. Sage was still frantically fighting to break free.
"Okay, but in order for top quality information like that its going to cost you top dollar," said the woman rubbing her forefinger and thumb together.
Hiro-Shu twisted around and started to walk away. The crew was nearly broke already. They needed to save some money up for an emergency. Or more likely they needed to save money up to fix their ship.
"Fine," said the woman slinking around to emerge in front of Hiro-Shu. "This one will be on the house, just come back soon." She handed Hiro-Shu a slip of paper. He took it with the hand that was holding the passed out girl and was about to walk away when he noticed he felt over 100 pounds lighter. He looked down in his other arm and noticed by some miracle Sage had broken free and was back to attacking the man in the tent.
After about an hour of persuading Sage to leave the tent and poor man inside it alone and then about another half an hour of just walking he finally found the place the woman was hinting at. For being a shady business dealer, she certainly did have horrible penmanship. This house was large about four stories tall, it was rundown and on top of that it wasn't a tent. Whoever lived here lived pretty well off. He knocked heavily on the door.
"Do I have some new specimens? Er, I mean patients?" said a young voice from inside.
The Broken Crew Hears the Bad News!
The White Devil Docks!
If you knew what I was planning you'd know I included everything you needed to know for the next couple of chapters. But since you probably don't (if you do I'm warning you I got a twelve gauge shotgun) you should know another one of the doctor OC's made its appearance and I even hinted at the other two! However, since the doctor OC hasn't really revealed herself (there's a hint, it's a her) I feel like I would be giving too much away to say whose it is! Look forward to the next chapter! Also in case you are wondering I did already introduce a possible doctor, it is Kira Samore from the Blackwell Arc! Congratulations Munia! Hopefully, I will include the full list of all of the doctors in the next chapter!